Hi everyone first my apoligies for the lack of updates recently since returning to full time work there just is'nt enough hours in the day.
Right well since the last blog entry Bletchford is no more. I had issues with the baseboards and to cut a long story short I moved up into the loft and started again. The replacement layout is on 3 levels and will be a long term project work concentrating at the moment on the building of a new show layout. AC lines is also no more as this has also been scra
Hi all first my apoilgies for not posting much recently as I have been realy busy with a few projects. As well as working on Manchester Piccadilly I have also been working on a huge 00/N gauge layout located in a very big shed up in weardale!
Anyway back to Bletchford this is the name for my new home layout that replaces the Heatherburn garden railway. Bletchford as the name suggests will be a blend of Bletchley and Stafford and im hoping that I can mix the buildings and features to create a
Ok here is current masterplan for the new WCML layout...
The layout will be built with 3 levels. The top level is the red track and will consist of the station and depot.
The blue and green lines are the up and down main lines. With this layout I want to recreate a 4 track section of the WCML. The slow lines feed into hidden storage sidings whilst the fast lines go straight through. As with my previous layouts I want to incorprate different scenic areas of the WCML rather than model on
Well its offical the Heatherburn is no more. As mentioned elsewhere I am starting a new layout soon but to make way for it something has to go. Had things been different the Heatherburn would have now been finished and giving me the enjoyment of opperating my stock instead of being mothballed and overgrown for the past couple of years. The outside section is still intact and will be for a while yet but inside the garage is a different story. Thankfully I have managed to reclaim the pointwork by
OK are we all sitting down........ right....... Tanfield show ( sept 10-11) will be the last outing for AC lines so if you havn't seen it this will be the layouts last show appearence as I have big changes in the pipeline !!
Currently the situation is this...
I have an N gauge layout that is beyond repair. The framing for the baseboards has sagged in the middle and TBH the track isn't that great so this will be scrapped. It will be replaced by a new N gauge exhibition layout in the futur
Yesterday I was at a crossroads with my railway modelling as the Heatherburn had dissapeared under 3 foot high weeds again and the N gauge empire realy needs scrapping and starting again. After spending yesterday afternoon mulling things over I have come up with a plan that will hopefully give me what im looking for. I had considered ripping out the contents of the garage and building a new indoor layout but the lack of money and the fact that most of the track including some expensive pointwork
Latest pics of Kyle station buildings...
For the chimneys I have learnt a new skill of over laying air dry clay onto a foam core and then scribing in the stonework. I will be doing similar on the viaducts on Manchester Piccadilly.
I have added a couple of boxes on the outside walls matching the prototype pics
For the guttering I ended up carving them from 3mm foamex
The only job left is the front edge of the canopy that I want to complete today
The past week I have been working on a model of Kyle station building for a customer. The building mesures 3 feet long and has been built in half relief to fit on a narrow baseboard. The model is being finished in green/cream as the station was in the late 1980's and will form the ideal backdrop for the customers fleet of class 37's. Heres a couple of pics
Just to let everyone know I have updated the westcoast website tonight. This latest update includes a few embedded video's.
http://www.westcoastminiatures.com
Im curently in the process of updating my website and have decided to add a free forum aimed at 25kv electric modellers. Currently the forum is just my own layouts and projects but it would be good if a few others were intrested in being involved. The forum can be found at http://twentyfivekvmodellers.freeforums.org and hopefully the westcoast website will be updated over the next week. The new forum also has a built in chat room facility.
Other news I have been offered a set of class 83 bog
Its been a busy couple of weeks for me with several westcoast projects lined up to do. Last week saw a LMR 15 signal box in NSE red/white dispached to its new home whilst another NSE station building project is currently taking up space on my workbench. I have a show to do at Shildon in a couple of weeks so I have been installing the OHLE on the Trent Valley module
Im hopeing to have the rest of the flyover done before the show. Another project that I have just started in
After a few technical problems I have now set up a model railway forum aimed at modellers in the north east of englend. The forum can be found at http://nerm.freeforums.org and all NE members are welcome.
Hi all we are having problems with the PC that the westcoast website is run from. The problem is that it keeps switching itself off !! A new motherboard is due to be fitted that will hopfully cure the problem and in the meen time an earler version of the website is running as a back up. This will be replaced with the latest 52 page version tonight.
This weekend has seen the construction of a second module for my AC lines project. AC lines will be my future exhibition layout and will incorprate Potters Lane as part of the line up. The idea is for a group of modules that bolt together to form an intresting display of different scenes that feature snapshots of the 25kv electric network.
Just to let everyone know I have updated the westcoast website again at the weekend. I have added a couple of workbench pages as well as a couple of more pics of Portisheads canopy.
www,westcoastminiatures.com
For many years I have always fancied a model of 89 001 Avocet. Lack of funds has always prevented me from buying a kit so the only other option was to scratch build. A few months back I was given a pair of Hornby hst cabs so a couple of weeks ago I made a start on the project. The power of the ac electrics book provided me with a plan to work from. When I worked out the mesurements in 00 I relised that the plan was actualy to scale so basicly I photo copied it and then cut out paper templates fo
Website updated again. New section added for kids toys and control panel page redone.
www.westcoastminiatures.com
I would like to wish everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year.
Over the past year I have been working on my first comissioned layout build. The layout is 00 gauge and is based on Manchester Piccadilly. Tonight I have finished the control panel so that I can start wiring it in tomorrow afternoon.
With 21 point motors to fit its going to be fun wiring it up !
The Westcoast website has just been updated again with a few pics of my latest building Portishead. With this update I have put all the text into text boxes so hopfully that should cure all the problems with the pages. The other update is that my exhibition layout Potters lane is to be rebuilt before its next show in March. Potters will form part of a bigger layout that will be known as AC Lines. AC lines will be a series of modules that will feature different scenes of the 25kv network. The fir
Potters lane will be at this weekends show at Gateshead stadium. Currently I have the layout set up in the living room whilst I carry out some last minute repairs to the damage that happened on the way home from the last show. Whilst the layout is out I took a few more pics of the semi completed 312 coaches as Adam at Electra has requested a couple of pics of the unit for the website.
Ok I have managed to fit the glazing to the cab windows and finish a driving trailer. I still have things like handrails, wipers, etc to fit but at least I have somthing to take to Gateshead with me at the weekend. Must say though im quite pleased with the way the resin cabs have turned out.
Yes I know the interior is wrong but it looks better than an empty shell !!
